ARC 4

THE EVERLASTING COVENANT

Chapter 73 [Where Weakness Resides]

In reality, she hadn’t been sleeping for all that long.
At most a week: a conceivable time-span for going without seeing one’s friends or family. ――But Subaru could not think that way.

For Subaru, who was constantly shedding off his life and time, actual time-span meant nothing. According to his soul’s internal clock, a far longer span had passed since that voice had last struck upon his eardrums, and his heart.

[Rem: ――Wake up, Subaru-kun, I’d be happier if I could see your face]

The words rained down from above as he lay face-down on the ground.
The tender compassion and the heated affection contained within that voice swiftly filled Subaru’s chest with warmth, and instilled the parched, empty vessel of his heart with searing heat.
All this, from a single sentence whispered by that gentle voice.

――Just how much strength had she given him?

[Subaru: ……You’re kidding]

[Rem: No, this is not a joke]

[Subaru: You can’t be here]

[Rem: If you want, Subaru-kun, I will always be at your side]

[Subaru: Whenever there’s something important I must do… whenever I feel this way…… it’s like you’d always come to me…… but how could… something that convenient……]

[Rem: Well, I’ve always wanted to be the girl who’d just so conveniently happen to be at Subaru-kun’s side]

With his sobbing voice, he spilled that pathetic whimper.
But the voice that answered did not look down on him, nor think any less of him.
She―― knew.

Knew, that Subaru was weak, helpless, so brittle that he could not live without something to cling to, always lacking confidence, and perpetually in doubt.
Nevertheless, this girl told this hopelessly-weak Subaru that she loved him.

[Subaru: ――Rem]

[Rem: Yes. It’s Subaru-kun’s Rem]

He lifted his head.
Obscured by tears, the color blue filled into his eyes.

Roughly wiping his eyes with his dirtied sleeve, banishing his tears, he saw.
The form of the girl standing before him.

Slightly tilting her head, Rem replied in a playful tone.
Just before he could say something about her attitude, he felt the air calmly seep out of his lungs. With a thump, the heavy burden in his chest dropped to the ground.
His breathing eased, and the tiny self screaming in his skull disappeared.

Being so easily, so easily saved, Subaru was struck dumb.
He had thought himself hopeless and stuck, and yet, upon seeing this single girl standing before his eyes, he was so easily released.

[Subaru: You’re incredible, Rem……]

[Rem: Why thank you. Subaru-kun is amazing too]

Smiling as she spoke, their exchange was just as perfectly offbeat as it always was.
Feeling such happiness at this back and forth, everything he had tried to endure up to now suddenly turned to tears on the verge of falling.
While he was pinned to the ground, casting down his eyes, Rem kneeled down before him,

In these never-ending, looping worlds, Subaru had been battered and torn without reaching a single answer. He was in no position to say he was worn out.
Not while everyone else suffered more. Not while everyone else was enduring more. Just why did everyone else have to suffer along with him? ――The answer was obvious.

[Subaru: It’s because I’m too weak]

[Rem: ――――]

[Subaru: Because I’m always lacking]

[Rem: ――――]

[Subaru: If only I’m stronger, smarter, and a less useless guy…… they wouldn’t have to suffer, grieve, or hurt like this…….]

If Subaru was strong enough to do everything on his own, then the task of consoling Emilia’s broken heart in the face of her past, easing the sorrow of Beatrice’s 400 years of solitude, saving Petra and Frederica from the murderer’s blade, defending the people of the Sanctuary from the Great Rabbit’s threat, and reaching an understanding with Garfiel who sought to expel the outsiders―― would all have fallen to him.

Everything, all of it, every last aspect, was Subaru’s fault.
And so, in order to overcome this balance sheet of his own weakness, Subaru had to scour his soul and start anew.
――Or so he thought, and yet,

[Subaru: I didn’t save anyone…… in the end… did I?]

[Rem: Subaru-kun]

[Subaru: If the worlds continued after my death, then how many… how many times… how many people…… have I left to die?]

[Rem: Subaru-kun]

[Subaru: How many times did I let you die? How many times do I need to…… kill you before it’s enough?]

[Rem: ――Subaru-kun]

Shuddering from a dread surging from the depths of his body, Subaru ravingly confessed his sins.
Expelling them from his lips, he only wanted instant sentencing for his crimes. Before he could crush his own heart to dust, he wanted someone, anyone, to carry out his punishment for him.
He wanted someone to yell at this colossal idiot who pledged not to make another mistake yet stumbled on his very first step while heading the wrong way, to smack this irredeemable fool flying.

[Subaru: ――――]

――But Subaru’s plea for punishment was answered by a gentle, enveloping embrace.

[Subaru: re, m]

[Rem: It’s alright. Everything is alright, Subaru-kun]

[Subaru: But, noth…… nothing is…… alright…… is it]

Nothing. Subaru hadn’t succeeded in anything.
If Subaru slackened now, absolutely no one would be saved. Countless people would meet their end. Rem too, was someone Subaru absolutely must save.
Because only she had the right to chastise this inadequate, insufficient, hopelessly weak Natsuki Subaru.

[Subaru: You should be…… at me……!]

[Rem: ――I love you]

She pressed her forehead against his, and whispered those loving words.

Sorry I needed a few days to rest, I was completely exhausted and sick and struggling with jet lag. I feel much better now aside from the fact that I’m sleeping during the day and waking up close to sunset…

Emilia is the best girl! Also, I am guessing that’s not really Rem, but the authority of the witch of lust. It would make sense and correlate to the tea party because who would have the power to show the one you want to see most at the moment in this story? Or at least that’s my theory I guess there is only one way to see for sure. Also, Chicken thank you for the wonderful story I finally caught up somewhat with the rest of you. I do have to admit I am so glad that you created this translation of the light novels, because even if I used google translate it would have been kind of pointless due to how bad at actually translating it is, no offense to Google, but it’s really bad.

welcome home Chicken! glad you’re feeling better!
”everyone else was enduring more. Just why did every everyone else have to suffer along with him?”
there is an extra ”every” before ”everyone”
Glad to see a Rem scene after all this time, even if it’s only in his trial

It’s more like another dimension, but you could say world as well. It’s like when you die in a video game and you start from the save point. From the point of the game, what happened just before you die doesn’t belong to the world you are restarting into, but you, as a player do remember it. And since your memories stopped with your death, in the world where you lose, most likely you were the hero supposed to save everything, the story when the bad way.

So he doesn’t go back in time, he respawns in another dimension right? and what happens to the dimension that he died in? does people like emilia and others still live with him being dead? sorry my english isnt great

thats according what was written in the book which is being written by echidna and she says herself that she doesnt really know and is just assuming. not sure i mean what if its just a simulation of the future and it only stops when he will make the right decisions. also i think al also remembers > he asked once if rem was ram and was confused that rem was still alive so what if he remembers loops too but did not know what was causing it to happen.

Bobby, oh, she was frozen for that many years? I was thinking that she was conscious all that time. It would be terrible if I wasn’t wrong: being alone so many decades.. I have to search for chapter in which it has been written. Sorry for my(may be) bad English

[Roswaal: The beginning of the freezing of the Great Forest of Elior, and its subsequent spread, is recorded as an event that happened over ninety years ago. All was frozen, and all living things were sealed in ice, in a world of absolute zero. ――And she lived in that world, all alone]…
Ninety years. An exceeding long time…
[Roswaal: ――In the depths of the Great Elior Forest, the village and the villagers of the Elven tribe that resided there remain frozen in ice even to this day, stopped in time]…
[Roswaal: All except one, all except the Half-Elf girl who committed this mistake……]
It’s from the chapter “Ice forest”. 2 things:
1)Emilia’s age haven’t been written(but it’s more than 90)
2)It seems that she haven’t been frozen living there only with Puck. Am I wrong?

Emilia also got frozen along, but she was the only one woke up and became the sole survivor. When she woke up, the first thing she saw was puck. The two lived there for few years until roswaal came to visit her and then they made agreements regarding royal selection. All according to keikaku-not! gospel.

All of this is technically spoilers, seeing as we haven’t reached this part of the story where this is discussed, I think. But hey, it’s already out there.

Based on where we are in the story, from where Roswaal dropped this exposition, she was supposedly frozen in the forest 100 years ago. While we haven’t reached it yet, her physical age seems about 18 years. Her mental age would be about 14 seeing as she was unfrozen 7 years ago to date, and she was about 7 when Elior froze.

Now that we’re discussing it, I’d really wait for these chapters to be translated. There’s s lot going on in those chapters.

Speaking of which, why is Dona-Dona cheating the trial to help Subaru in the first place? I mean, she even said herself during the first trial that she was disappointed that Subaru didn’t suffer even more, and from her perspective, Subaru had only taken the first trial a few hours ago. Had she really grown a soft spot for Subaru in that short span of time?

Be wouldn’t she already know the answer though? I think it’s safe to say she can see exactly what he sees in his trial, considering she watched him in the last trial, and she’s helping him because she knows he’s suffering, which is why I’m confused.

wants something from subaru which be explained later and that does not even happen so its all pointless. which makes me hate her because she is basically a sadist who only cares about satiating her curiosity.

Because she isn’t. There’s a reason as to why she wants Subaru to succeed. She knows about RBD. If she didn’t before now, she obviously knows now after piecing Subaru’s memories together to have the mechanism construct a narrative that all but destroys Subaru’s mental state. She looking at gain something.

Has Dona given him a Rem vision as a break from all the worlds after he died or what? Cause that might be nice for him until he realises it isn’t real, then maybe worse than it not happening would have been.

Nothing is clear about where they even are atm, so it could even be Dona pretending to be Rem using Subaru’s memories to reconstruct her.

Since [you]* asked nicely…
This part of the chapter portrays strong emotions the MC experiences at meeting his girlfriend. Whether this Rem is real or a hallucination, doesn’t matter that much, for a reader. I believe, the author wanted readers to think “Yup, he sure loves Rem a lot” or something like that.

So, to answer the question, protagonist’s feelz have a lot to to with everything, being the main focus of the story so far. Actually, they make up quite a lot of Re:Zero charm, for me at least.

“As for as how Rem is used in this part of the story, You will find out it’s significance in the coming chapters.”

You people keep assuming that when someone questions something, they absolutely have no idea about what comes next. I don’t even know why you people are saying this, I obviously know everything that follows far and wide. In fact, seeing some of his comments, he seems to only have knowledge about stuff up to this chapter?

You’re assuming he is right too, when he obviously he isn’t. And if you rereead the comment, you’ll see that I was NOT talking about Subaru’s feelings. Subaru’s feelings are IRRELEVANT in the OP’s comment anyway. It doesn’t matter that Subaru’s feelings are “love” or whatever towards REM when it isn’t REM AT THE MOMENT. B-kun being the insecure remfag he is, took the defensive and went trying to ascertain his remfag bullshit when none of this even was relevant.

I don’t know? Subaru’s feelings for Rem are not relevant regardless of what influence it has on the story developement because it isn’t what it is about.

If I say “what is going on in this chapter” and you reply “apples are white on the inside. I ate an apple this morning” then you are NOT answering. It is off topic.

I love Echidona’s experiments lol it’s like having a Re:zero fan as an character 😹 her curiosity is the same as ours but she can actually do the test an see so selfish I love it long live Echidona 🙌🏼 an a applause Puñeta!
Oh right she’s dead long live her soul then lmao 🤣
Thank~sama
Despacito 🎉🎶🕺🏿Nananananananana-nana

I like Rem’s character. I’m don’t much care for the waifu craze, but Rem’s character is pretty incredible. The amount of power she exudes as a strong woman, as well as the delicate femininity she emobodies is quite something from a character standpoint. Her importance in the story is self-evident, regardless of the naysaying crowd that suggests that she is a convenient crutch for Subaru to pass by.

But idolizing her as some kind of female ideal and being made into a waifu really wears on her character in my opinion. It’s the same with many female characters in fiction.

Being male, I’m naturally drawn to female characters because of the mystery of female psychology. It’s refreshing to see an accurate take on true female psychology (strong, yet fragile).

Thanks again chicken! I’ve also been suffering jet lag after being in the Nihon.

Couldn’t agree more. Same goes for almost all the characters Tappei Natsugi-sama created. Very rarely do you see so much depth and intrigue in so many characters. But Rem particularly stands out to me in this regard as well. This is why I love Re: Zero, and why I will follow Chicken-sama❤ from zero to see this story through.

I think Nagatsuki is a pretty good writer. He’s built an interesting world with interesting politics and characters. Emilia is a great female lead, with a lot of mystery to her background. Subaru is a good male lead with a lot of flaws, being a pretty well built tragic hero, although a lot of his character comes off as annoying, but I think that’s intentional to show his growth through the story.

I think most other Isekai stories suck, particularly the MMO variety, with Overlord being the exception. This one shines because of its well-built characters and world, but I think he’s juggling quite a few characters. The variety of witches that we have relies on popular tropes, which is forgivable, because juggling that many personalities and giving them depth is quite hard. But that depends on how long these characters are around, and home these tropes play out.

Sorry for the long post, but there isn’t a discussion board. I feel bad posting this much.

I dont like the fact that Subs hasn’t realize that its an illusion made by the witches.
That move by the witches are nice, but funked at the same time.
Subs needs to nut up n realize u can’t save everyone at least I don’t see a way to save everyone.
praise be to BEST GIRL…..oh wait no Frederica

Spoiler or not, it doesn’t matter. From subaru’s point of view, this is maybe like his reunion with his parents on the 1st trial. If we didn’t read the previous interlude chapter, we might assumed the same. But alas, when echidona ordered carmila to console the broken subaru, then it became obvious for us readers.

Thanks a lot chicken, glad u made it home safe😉
I was so bored that i went reading re zero manga and figured out something reaaaallly wired
It wasn’t only subaru that is summoned to this fantasy world, there was also another person named AL he’s priscilla-sama’s knight he was summoned 18 years ago and he lost he’s left arm during that time
Why didn’t they mention it in the anime!?

You know, I really don’t understand why Subaru even likes Rem, if someone I knew instead of call for help when i’m dying to instead kill me while I’m down and effectively desecrates my body for no good reason I don’t think you even have the option to forgive them, it was a completely uncalled for action that speaks volumes about the person inside.
Hateful and unforgivable, a real sociopath but somehow is playing the role of a strong female pillar, this completely doesn’t suit her.
Everyone else that has killed Subaru up to this point he has somewhat of a grudge with but Rem for no reason gets a pass?
Honestly it was quite refreshing that Nagatsuki basically removed her development as a character in the story yet she’s rearing her head again.

Her reason wasn’t a good one at all, tell me what crime Subaru committed that was punishable by death from the standpoint of a logical person?
In the loop after where Rem dies and Ram suspects Subaru and attempts to kill him, granted there was no proof but that was a valid and understandable conclusion to make.

Rems reason doesn’t even matter, to pre-emptively kill him without at least consulting ram and roswaal first is enough to show her mental problems.

A simple reason, however personal, is trauma. The implications of the smell weighs heavily in all aspects of this world. It’s an indisputable evil, regardless of the form it takes. It’s completely understandable, given her past trauma of seeing her village massacred by the Witch Cult.

With this truth evident pretty much everywhere, it’s reasonable enough to assume that any person affiliated with the smell is affiliated with the Witch.

Although her judgement was compromised, and she had no justifiable reason in regards to Subaru’s actions, she was in the wrong for acting on her own with no evidence to prove Subaru’s motivations.

I don’t think Rem is evil, sometimes you have to work with people that have wronged you.
I just think that subaru isn’t some iron-hearted fearless person that doesn’t get nightmares about all the suffering that’s occurred to him, now he has a lot of these moments but once or twice rem’s flail mercilessly cutting through the air as he’s on the floor unable to even attempt to avoid it must have appeared in his nightmares.
As to how you fall in love despite this once in a while reminder, I don’t remember Subaru being that stoic of a person.

@phantaminiumphoenix
Well, Subaru never really blamed Rem for killing or torturing him. Rem and Ram are not your regular maids, they are also bodyguards and specialize in hunting the Cult. That, together with Subaru’s smell, his strange behavior, pre-knowledge of Mansion facilities and habitants, place a huge red marker on him right from the start, since affiliation with the Cult is a good enough reason to get killed on sight.

When he was killed for the first time (2nd arc, 2nd loop) he was on his way to Emilia’s room, triggering the alarms. By that time he already had Rem’s animosity for a number of reasons, as he was dancing on her Berserk Buttons from day one. Her call to terminate him was hasty, true, but reasonable, given the circumstances.

The episode of torture was clearly provoked. Sub stole Rem’s kitchen knife, and instead of leaving the mansion was staking out in the woods, thinking he’s fooled everyone. You know, out of context that looks pretty suspicious.

As for Subaru’s nightmares with Rem – he had plenty of those IRL during 3rd arc, witnessing her deaths and being the reason (as he believed) for each of them. His guilt for his words or thoughts (like the end of ep.14) about her tortured him much longer.
You may have noticed Subaru treats Rem with high respect (unlike Ros or Puck, for example), so it’s not so strange that he would justify her actions. And respect is a good foundation for love.

First of all, her “trauma” is not an excuse at all. Her crimes can’t be justified, especially from the 3rd point of view, considering all circumstances. And it doesn’t matter if we do understand her reasons or not. Even if I understand her reasons it doesn’t make her ANY less guilty. She is a cold-blood killer and this is a simple fact. Subaru is completely innocent and this is also a fact. “It’s completely understandable, given her past trauma of seeing her village massacred by the Witch Cult.” Yeah, she is SOOOOO traumatized by that case, that she forgot about her trauma in 1 day, I will repeat, 1 DAY. This kind of terrible soul’s wounds, can’t be healed or forgotten in 1 day, otherwise, these wounds are not that deep. Isn’t it obvious? And why do I have to forgive or forget her crimes? Only because Subaru had RBD? But what if he didn’t have it? This innocent guy with good intention towards these people would be killed and this brutal death would be his reward for his good deeds. And we wouldn’t be able to see this Rem’s “amazing” side, she would remain as a killer forever. So the question is : Why shouldn’t we give Elsa a second chance then? May be she is also an “amazing” person? Why Subaru didn’t fall in love with her then? Btw, I remembered a proverb : “The path to the man’s heart lies through his belly”. Ah, that’s a funny one and suits our situation “well”. But Subaru didn’t fall in love with her, there is only hartred in his heart towards her. And most of us probably weren’t even asking this question, but that’s only natural, because that’s how it SHOULD be. So why Rem’s case any different? A beautiful flower(their relationship) couldn’t blossom on the blood-soaking soil. I don’t believe in this relationship and I don’t accept that. And it have nothing to do with Rem’s personality, really. Hm… I’m just saying, that it was a wrong way to tell us the story by Tappei, IMO. If that didn’t happen, I might actually be a Rem’s fan, Tappei shouldn’t have crossed that line. I agree with Phantaminiumphoenix entirely on that one. More than that, her thoughtless deeds created a lot of problems for her master, her home, her sister, so you can’t justify that as a “home protection”, especially when we know well her true intentions. Subaru was the one who saved Emilia, the candidate for the throne by risking his life, he almost died, and it is a well known fact for everyone(Rem included), he would’ve died, if not Betty’s healing. Subaru not only saved candidate for the throne, he also protected reputation of Rem’s master, as a patron of the candidate for the throne. His reputation would be ruined if under his protection the person, who is so important to the country would die. More than that, because of Subaru, Roswaal didn’t lost an “instrument” for achieving his ultimate goal. And by killing Subaru, she stripped her master of this “instrument”. Also, Subaru couldn’t be a spy, because it goes against logic. He wasn’t the one, who asked about moving to the mansion, he was on a verge of death. He simply couldn’t predict this development. And overall this is just a senseless idea. Subaru’s completely pure intentions and deeds were rewarded this way. He was brutally killed twice. Is this a fair reward? But yeah, she killed him because of Reasons(with capital letters). If Rem would use her brain, she would realize, that Subaru couldn’t be a threat, or even if he was, she should’ve just watch over him and listening to her sister and Roswaal’s instructions. But no, she decided to execute him, and went against their instructions only because of her hatred, only because she WANTED to kill him, to satisfy herself and it was obviously not about protecting her “home”. Oh, yeah she also tortured him just to make him suffer even more. But thx to Ram for ending his suffering.
“This doesn’t make her evil” Sure it does. Her behavior was based on her malice intention towards Subaru and she wanted to make Subaru suffer, she wanted to kill him and she also wanted to revenge on the witch cult. It doesn’t make her evil? Can’t agree with that at all. Her intention were truly evil.

I read this to this song and was about to cry too, goddamn I sincerely love Rems character even though its most likely not her, her very precense meaning this much to him to be able to lift him above despair should be very telling for all you naysayers just how wonderful she is ❤ tyvm chicken san for your work

This is so cute. It is almost a comeback to that beautiful scene. I know for sure this is not Rem but Carmilla’s thing, but how I wanted this to happen.
I’m so happy.
Thank you for translating this beautiful part!